Detecting his inner world

May 13, 2007|OLINE H. COGDILL South Florida Sun-Sentinel

For 20 years, Scottish author Ian Rankin has given readers an armchair traveler's up-close view of Edinburgh, melding the city's history with its contemporary concerns through the actions of police detective John Rebus. The result has been some of the most finely crafted and best-written crime fiction and has made Rankin one of the U.K.'s top-selling authors. That view of the past and a vision of the present are superbly evident in "The Naming of the Dead," in which Edinburgh is being galvanized for the Group of Eight summit. World leaders including Tony Blair, Vladimir Putin and President Bush are coming for the G8 conference, and Edinburgh's police force is getting ready to deal with the media, protesters and security. Everyone, that is, but Rebus, who's been left out of the planning. Sure, someone has to man the empty police station, but it goes deeper. Rebus may have insight and an ability to solve crimes, but his attitude hasn't made him a favorite of his supervisors. "Rebus knew his place in the food chain: somewhere down among the plankton, the price for years of insubordination and reckless conduct." While Edinburgh is in chaos over the G8, Rebus investigates the apparent suicide of a Scottish delegate and takes a case that no one wants: the murder of a violent sex offender just released from prison. Few are upset over the man's death, including Rebus. But he and his colleague Detective Sgt. Siobhan Clarke also notice a pattern -- other newly paroled criminals also are turning up dead. Despite the highly charged political background, Rankin keeps his 18th novel in this series a clearly focused piece of crime fiction enhanced by his usual keen character studies. Rankin has stated that he has one more novel before Rebus has to leave the force, and he uses this to explore the detective's concerns about his future and legacy. With retirement so near, Rebus could take it easy, "except that coasting was the one thing he had no time for. Without the job, he almost ceased to exist." In the last six novels, Rankin has been giving a solid focus to Siobhan who, in many ways, is an outsider like Rebus. Her distinct personality and unique insights add a balance to the novels. A maze of human emotions seen against the backdrop of the Scottish landscape proves, once again, Rankin's considerable talent.